By Julian Whittle

Last updated at 08:44, Tuesday, 12 March 2013

A new business in Carlisle is offering hydrotherapy services to help clients lose weight and recover from injury. But all its customers are dogs.

Kayley Scott with Ting and Max in the hydrotherapy pool

Kayley Scott, 19, of Currock, set up K9 Swim and Trim last month.

She is renting a hydrotherapy pool and grooming room at Peter Lane Boarding Kennels, to the south of the city.

She said: “I always wanted to set up on my own.

“I wanted to be a vet originally but the university fees were too high so I did an animal-management course at Newton Rigg, Penrith.

“I love dogs and got into grooming and hydrotherapy.”

“Hydrotherapy can help dogs with arthritis and those recovering from injuries. They can exercise without putting pressure on the joints.

“It helps build muscle tone and promotes weight loss.

“You get dogs that just love swimming and it gets them back down to being slim.”

Hydrotherapy can also aid dogs with degenerative conditions and can build stamina in working dogs.

The enterprising teen-ager funded the £3,000 start-up costs out of her savings.

She began a part-time job as a waitress when she was 13 and a pupil at Nelson Thomlinson School, Wigton.

Latterly, she worked as a sales assistant at River Island in Carlisle.

She said: “My boyfriend and I really want our own house.

“It was a choice, either use the money for the business or for a deposit on a house.”

Her lucky break was stumbling across the facilities at Peter Lane Boarding Kennels.

Alastair Grice, who used to race greyhounds, built the pool for his dogs but no longer uses it.

His son Richard, who runs the kennels, also had a spare grooming room.

Kayley said: “I looked at lots of buildings to rent and they were all expensive.

“Then just by chance I came across Peter Lane and found they had the hydrotherapy pool.”

The pool has been refurbished for K9 Swim and Trim. It is smaller than a conventional swimming pool – 3m long, 1m wide and 1.5m deep.

A dog will typically spend 30 minutes in the water then 30 minutes being bathed and dried.

Grooming services include clipping, ear cleaning and nail clipping.

Kayley says that K9 Swim and Trim is the only specialist hydrotherapy service for dogs in Carlisle.

It is open Mondays to Saturdays, with late nights Mondays and Wednesdays and a puppy socialisation session between 7pm and 8pm on Thursdays.

See the website www.k9swim-trim.com or call 077915 42107.

First published at 08:42, Tuesday, 12 March 2013
Published by http://www.cumberlandnews.co.uk